This story takes place right after the battle at Hogwarts ends. Harry wakes up after sleeping almost the entire day to join the rest of the survivors of the battle, but especially, to look for a special redhead.

“Well, um..good night, Harry” Hermione said, and rushed to the staircase, where she smiled at Ginny before going upstairs.

For a moment neither of them moved nor said anything. They just stared at each other for a long time, as if they were making sure that they were not dreaming. Suddenly, Ginny started walking towards him, with a sad and determined look on her face. Seeing this incentive, Harry rushed to get to her as well. Before they realized, they were hugging each other strongly. Ginny sunk her face in Harry’s chest, and Harry sunk his in her hair. It smelled better than he had remembered. Harry closed his arms around her, and brought her as close as possible to him. Ginny responded to this by hugging him harder. Neither of them would let go off the other. Harry let her go once; he would never do it again.

After a while Harry noticed that Ginny was sobbing. He didn’t ask her what was wrong, for he understood her pain. He actually found himself with tears running down his cheeks, and he was not surprised. He had been looking forward to this comfort ever since the battle ended. He kissed her on the forehead, and then both of their foreheads met. Harry looked at her in the eyes, and she returned his gaze. For the first time ever since he knew her, Harry saw the pain in her eyes. For once, Ginny was not the strong, determined girl she always has been. At that moment she was scared, confused, and sad, and Harry’s feelings for her instinctively increased because of this. She was showing him her weak side and Harry loved it, for he felt that he was the only person who could make her happy again. He had the feeling that Ginny belonged with him, and no one else. Suddenly, without stopping looking at him, Ginny said with a shaking tone in her voice:

“For a moment I thought you were-” Harry interrupted her:

“I would never leave you, Ginny.” She looked at him deeply in the eyes, and Harry saw that she was trying not to cry.

“Listen, Ginny,” he said, separating from her, “I know that I hurt you last year. And I regret that so much! But it was hard for me, too, believe me. You have no idea how much I missed you when I was away. I missed you so much that it hurt. There were times when I even felt physically sick. I needed to see you urgently. I even considered coming to Hogwarts just to look at you, to make sure that you were safe. It was like-” Harry paused. He looked away, trying to think of the right words. In the meantime, Ginny was looking firmly at him, breathing heavily. Then Harry looked at her again and continued. “It was like living a nightmare. Ginny, I felt like dying, only by being away from you. I was completely miserable! Honestly, I-”

“Felt like you were left without any strength?” She finished. Harry looked at her. To his surprise, she was not angry. On the contrary, she was smiling radiantly at him. “I felt the same way too, Harry”. She gave a step closer to him. “I wanted to find you, but there were so many things going on. And when I saw you today on Hagrid’s arms, I…” tears came to her eyes, and she began to sob. Harry was about to hug her again, when she controlled herself and proceeded:

“I realized that I could never be able to move on without you. It would have been pointless.” A tear came running down on each of her cheeks.

“But I did die, Ginny.” Harry said; to which Ginny raised her head and looked at him, confused. “Voldemort used the killing curse on me, and next thing I knew, I was talking to Dumbledore” Harry saw Ginny’s mouth open wide in surprise. She wasn’t crying anymore.

“But how…? How was that possible, Harry? If Voldemort killed you, there was no way you could have possibly come back to life.”

“Because Voldemort didn’t exactly kill me.” Ginny was still looking at him queerly. But it was not a judging look; it was a curious one. She was asking him with her gaze to proceed. “You see, a part of Voldemort was living inside me” Harry waited for her reaction. She didn’t say anything, but looked completely aghast. “It had been living in me ever since the night Voldemort killed my parents. Of course he didn’t know it; otherwise he would have never tried to kill me. What he really destroyed was-”

“A part of himself” Ginny sentenced. She looked down, in complete shock, and sat down on one of the couches near the fireplace. Then she looked up at Harry with the same curiosity. “How did a part of Voldemort get out of himself?” Harry answered her, explaining everything about the horrocruxes. She blanched when Harry told her that Tom Riddle’s diary was a horrocrux. Harry then proceeded to tell her everything. Where did Ron, Hermione, and he go to find the horrocruxes, how they found each of them, and how they destroyed them. When he finished, Ginny was looking straightly into his eyes, very serious, as if looking for something.

“What?” he asked.

“Is just that- you could have died, for Merlin’s beard! You took way too many risks, Harry! I mean, you were really lucky in getting here alive!” She was looking at him, obviously very distressed.

“It had to be done, Ginny. Besides, you were not precisely careful in saving yourself during the war”

“I was not going to hide while my family and friends were at risk!” Ginny argued.

“Bellatrix almost killed you, Ginny! Did not that scare you?” Harry said severely. Ginny looked down.

“I thought you were dead, Harry.” She said, in a low voice. “I wasn’t scared to fight Bellatrix because I wasn’t scared to die. Not after seeing you on Hagrid’s arms” Tears came to her eyes once more, but she held them in.

“Ginny,” Harry firmly said “if something ever happens to me, I would still want you to be safe. If there is something that I want for you above all, is to live. Do you understand?”

“I think I’m grown enough to decide what to do with my life, don’t you think?” She said, carelessly.

“Ginny, don’t be a fool, would you?” Harry was practically angry, until he saw her face and saw that she was making fun of him. “That was not funny, Ginny”. She giggled.

“I have missed you” She said, after a while. Harry’s eyes met hers once again. She was extremely beautiful! Even when she was sad, even when she cried, Harry considered her the most beautiful girl he had ever met. Both of them were seating next to each other on the couch in front of the fireplace. Harry leaned towards Ginny and she did the same. They were so close to each other that their noses met. The green eyes were looking at the brown ones intensely. Harry did not think about it, nor he was prepared for it (though he could feel it), and said:

“I love you, Ginny”. She looked at him, surprised and blushed, and then she smiled at Harry, happy as he had never seen her. Harry smiled back at her. Ginny was still looking at him when Harry placed his lips on hers and kissed her, slow and passionately. Ginny kissed him back, and Harry suddenly forgot about the previous day. He forgot all about Voldemort, all the dead people, all the sadness that overcame him last night before going to bed. Right now he could only focus on Ginny. She placed both of her arms around his neck, and Harry embraced her. When they finally broke apart, Ginny said:

“I love you too, Harry. I never stopped loving you” Harry smiled at her, and felt a happiness he had never felt before. In that moment, Harry felt the need of being next to Ginny forever. He did not think that he would ever want to be apart from her. Ginny was all he needed. He loved her, he really did. This time it was Ginny who kissed him, and Harry found himself, once more, in blissful oblivion.